Device for stapling strips of belting together



y 1950 E. WHEATLEY ET AL 2,513,903

DEVICE FOR STAPLING STRIPS 0F BELTING TOGETHER Filed Jan. 11, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 V I mus/rich ERNEST WHEATLEY 8| JOHN JAMES POTTER July 4, 1950 E. WHEATLEY ETAL DEVICE FOR STAPLING STRIPS OF BELTING TOGETHER Filed Jan. 11', 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 h re/7hr ERNESTWHEATLEYGJ N JAMES POTTER Patented July 4, 1950 DEVICE FOR STAPLING STRIPS OF B'EhTING TOGETHER:

Ernest Wheatly and John J arnc's :Potter',

Sheflield, England Application'Ja'nuary, 11, 1946, SerialNoL 640,532. IntGreat Britain January 15, 1945.

7 'Claims.

This invention concerns devices for stapling togetherstrips of belting. I

In a known formof device, the strips of belting to be operated. upon are advanced intermittently between aflmovable tool and'an .anvil'by means of a pair of rollers in timed relation to the stroke of the movable tool, adjustable guide means being provided for locating the belt between the tool and anvil and for holding the adjacentedges to be joined in edgewise abutment.

It has been found in practice that an appreciable amount of slip occurs between the feed rollers and the strips of belting with each stapling operation with the result that the staples are unevenly spaced apart in'the strips of'belting. In cases where the strips of belting, after being stapled on one side, areturned over and'stapled on the other sidethis irregular incremental progress is accentuated so that in some cases a staple falls immediately over one of the first row of staples and cannot be driven in properly, with the result that the strips of belting aredamaged or the staples wedge in the tool.

It has also been found that there is frequently a tendency for the strips of belting to. be fed slightly sideways through the device despite the guide means provided with the result that in an extreme case the staple is pressed wholly into one strip of belting and is excluded from the other strip entirely. This sideways movement is frequently due to one of the strips of belting being slightly thicker than the other, consequently the thicker strip is gripped tighter and slips less than the thinner strip.

Thepresent invention hasfor its objects the provision :ofmeans overcomingthe-above defects, and also for maintaining the adjacent edges of the strips of belting in edgewise abutment'during the stapling operation.

The aforementioned and other objects will be understood more clearly from a perusal of the following description with reference to the drawings annexed hereunto.-

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective View of a device for stapling together strips of belting embodying the features of the present invention;

Figure .2 shows an elevation of the feedrollers and sleeves;

Figure 3 is a section on the line x-a: Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a schematic perspective view of one of the means for maintaining adjacent edges closely together; and

Fig. 5 is a detail showing the relative positions of'certain members used "for guiding the stripsof' belting.

The device as shown'in' Figure 1 of the drawings is substantially the same as shown in the British specification No"; 565;'024, application date' upona'base I'a; Mounted between the end supports I are a plurality of parallel guide rods 3; 3a, of 'whichon'e pair'of parallel guide rods il'carries a supporting member'lfor a stapler 5 incorporating a movabletool I 0 and astaple magazine 5a; while the other pair of guides Sacarries a supporting member'l Ia for 'ananvil II.- Each supporting member 4 and I la is operatively' associatedwith an individual screw-threaded'shaft I51 and I 5arespectively for transverse movement acrossthe' frame." The screws I5 and I521 are geared 'togetheras at l5b to synchronise the movement'of the supporting members 4 and Ila in" order'that the movabletool It will always registerwith the anvil I l.

The movable tool ID receives a vertical reciproeating motion from'a horizontal beam 6 which passes through a slot. Illa in the tool It] and reciprocatest within a slot Ib in the support I. Reciprocato'ry motion is imparted to the beam 6' through connecting rods I by means ofpins 8. One end'of each connecting rod is rotatably mounted on the beam 6 whilst the other end is rotatably mounted on-.one'of the pins 8. The pins 8 are fixed atfa' suitable radius on gear Wheels 28to cause the necessary reciprocatory displacement of the beam 6'. Thegearwheels 28 are keyed to each end-of'a shaft 811 which may be rotated manually by means of a cranked handle 9 and associated gear wheel 29 as shown or by power either directly'from aprime mover'or throughthe intermediary of belting or gearing, whichever islinost convenient.

It'is to be unde'rstood'that the device shown inFigurer l is purely, schematic in arrangement and'that' many variations in-the arrangement of the parts .are possible without departing from the-scope of the invention.

As shown in Fig. l instead of'one continuous upper roller being, provided, two separately. mounted and independently adjustable co-axial rollers 2c; 2d, (Fig. 2 are provided, each mounted in bearings 32 slidably in frames 30. The frames 30 are threaded to receive adjusting screws 2b, which are coupled to the bearings 32 so as to be free to rotate thereto. Each frame 30 is rigidly secured to a cross-bar 3| extending between the supports l. The adjusting screw 2b enables in cases where the two strips of belting to be joined are of different thicknesses to make adjustments so that each strip will be gripped between the upper and lower roll with, equal pressure, with the result that there is less tendency for the belt to get out of alignment than before. If desired the lower roller 2 may be in the form of two separately mounted and independently adjustable co-axial rollers as well as or instead of the upper roller. The upper and lower rollers are preferably geared together by gear wheels 29' keyed to their respective rollers, the teeth of the gear wheels being sufiicie ntly large and of deep clearance to allow the necessary adjustment between the upper and lower rollers.

Each roller is provided with several short sleeves 26, 2f keyed or otherwise secured to their respective rollers for rotation therewith, the sleeves 2e being provided with a helically arranged row or rows of teeth 29 and the sleeves 2 having longitudinal ribs 2h, a sleeve 26 on one roller registering with a sleeve 2 on the upper or lower roller as the case may be.

Thedirection of helicality of the teeth 29 on the respective sleeves is arranged in order to assist in the edgewise abutment of the strips of belting.

The combination of the teeth 2g and ribs 2h on the respective sleeves and the equal gripping pressure applied to the strips of belting derived by dividing one or both rollers reduces very considerably the amount of .slip between the strips of belting and the feed rollers. In order to compensate for any slip which may occur from time to time which results in irregular spacing of the staples in the united strips of belt, the connecting rod 210 operating the rollers is made in two parts connected together by a turnbuckle 2m; with a slight adjustment by hand when necessary the connecting rod 220 will be, shortened or lengthened to introduce a small temporary subtractive and additive advancement to the normal advancement of the rollers and consequently the amount by which the strips of belting are fed forward for the next stapling. Subsequent stapling is unaffected and stapling is effected with the normally predeterminedinter space relationship. It has been found in practice that the two edges of belts prepared by cutting for' uniting in this manner are seldom absolutely straight and in order to ensure, despite local inaccuracies that the two edges shall always be in edgewise abutment when" beneath the tool If], a guide 26a is provided, on the outer edge of each strip of belting in edgewise abutment. The guides 26a substantially in line with the tool are urged inwardly towards the tool by spring 261). Said means b is secured at one end to the flange of a generally T-shaped member 40 and at the other end to a sliding member M which carries guide 26a and slides in a grooved portion 40a of member ii). The flange of each T-shaped member 40 is secured to one of the supports l.

Guiderollers 26 carried on slides 21 are provided as in the British specification No. 565,024, but in the present case their purpose is primarily to assist in positioning the strips of 4 belting when the latter are first inserted in the machine for stapling. For this purpose one of the guide rods 30. on which the slides 21 are mounted is graduated, as for example in inches, on each side of a zero point substantially midway between the supports l as shown at 21a. Thus if two strips of belting to be united by stapling are 15 and 20 inches Wide respectively one slide 21 with its guides 26 is moved to the 15th graduation on one side of the zero marking and the other slide is moved to the 20th graduation on the other side of the zero marking. In this way the whole of one strip passes between one of the upper rollers and the part of the lower roll corresponding thereto and the other strip passes between the other upper roller and the part of the lower roll corresponding thereto.

We declare that what we claim is:

1. In a device for stapling together strips of belting with longitudinal edges thereof in abutment comprising, roll means adapted to bear against corresponding faces of the two sprips, at least two rollers each adapted to bear against one of the two corresponding opposite faces of said strips, said rollers disposed in approximately coaxial relationship and each having one end near the other roller and having its opposite end remote from the other roller, one ofsaid rollers being mounted so that the position of its axis may be adjusted towards or away from said roll means independently of the position of the axis of the other said roller.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the roll means is constituted by at least two rollers.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which rotation of the roll means and roller is effected in'mutually timed relationship. a

4. A' device as claimed in claim 1 in which a guide is provided on the outer edge of each strip of belting substantially in line with the stapler to urge said'strips laterally'one towards the other to effect abutment of thei adjacent longitudinal edges during stapling. I Y

- 5. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which the surfaces-of the roll means and rollers are in the formof detachable and replaceable outer sleeves. 6. A' device as claimed in claim 5 inwhich at least a pair of sleeves of the roll means and one sleeve of each roller are helically toothed and the direction of helicality is such as to urge the strips of-belting one towards the other to effect abutment of their. adjacent longitudinaledges.

7. A device as claimed in claim 5 in which at least one sleeve of each roller and. a pair of sleeves of the roll means has a series of axially extending peripheral ribs for positive engagement in the belting thereby rendering successive increments of progress substantially equal.

ERNEST WHEATLEY. JOHN JAMES POTTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in-the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

